Battle of Lwów (1939)

Coordinates: 49°50′33″N 24°01′56″E / 49.84250°N 24.03222°E / 49.84250; 24.03222
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For a list of battles fought for the city of
Lwów, see Battle of Lwów (disambiguation)
.
Battle of Lwów
Part of Part of the
Lwów, Lwów Voivodeship, Poland
Result German–Soviet victory
Belligerents  Germany
 Soviet Union  PolandCommanders and leaders Nazi Germany Ferdinand Schörner
Soviet Union Filipp Golikov Władysław Langner
Franciszek SikorskiStrength Nazi Germany German:
1st Mountain Division, 2nd Mountain Division, part of 7th Infantry Division, part of 5th Panzer Division
Soviet Union Soviet:
6th Army 11 infantry battalions
5 batteries of artillery (mainly 75 mm guns)
2 armoured trains
1 cavalry unit
1 engineering platoon and a small number of soldiers who had retreated into the city from elsewhereCasualties and losses

Nazi Germany German 1st Mountain Division: 484 killed (including 116 from Gebirgsjäger-Regiment 99.)
918 wounded
608 sick

Soviet Union Soviet: 24th Armoured Brigade: 4 KIA and 8 WIA on 22 September

Total: 488+ killed
926+ wounded
608+ sick Unknown

The Battle of Lwów (sometimes called the Siege of Lwów) was a

Polish Army and the invading Wehrmacht and the Red Army. The city was seen as the key to the so-called Romanian Bridgehead
and was defended at all cost.

First clashes

Sketch showing the Polish defences around September 13

Initially, the city was not to be defended, as it was considered to be too deep behind the Polish lines and too important to Polish culture for warfare.

Gródek Jagielloński line.[2]

The following day, the first German motorised units under Colonel Ferdinand Schörner, 1st Mountain Division (Wehrmacht), arrived in the area. After capturing Sambor (66 kilometres from Lwów), Schörner ordered his units to break through the weak Polish defences and to capture the city as soon as possible.[3]: 79  The assault group was composed of two motorised infantry companies and a battery of 150 mm guns. The group outflanked the Polish defenders and reached the outskirts of the city but was bloodily repelled by the numerically-inferior Polish defenders.[4] The Polish commander of the sector had only three infantry platoons and two 75 mm guns, but his forces were soon reinforced and held their positions until dawn. The same day, the command of the city's defence was passed to General Franciszek Sikorski, a veteran of World War I and the Polish–Soviet War.

The following day, the main forces of Schörner arrived, and at 14:00, the Germans broke into the city centre but again were driven back after heavy city fighting with the infantry units formed of local volunteers and refugees. To strengthen the Polish defences, General Kazimierz Sosnkowski left Lwów for Przemyśl on September 13 and assumed command over a group of Polish units that was trying to break through the German lines and to reinforce the city.[5]

Schörner decided to fall back and to encircle the city while he awaited reinforcements. His forces achieved a limited success and captured the important suburb of

Polish 10th Motorised Brigade, under Colonel Stanisław Maczek, arrived and started the heavy fighting to take back the suburb of Zboiska. The town was recaptured, but the surrounding hills remained in German hands and gave a good view of the city centre. Schörner placed his artillery there to shell the city. In addition, the city was almost constantly bombed by the Luftwaffe. Among the main targets for the German air force and artillery were prominent buildings, such as churches, hospitals,[6] water plant and power plants.[2]

New enemy

Map of the battle.
Soviet cavalry parade after the capitulation of Lwów

On September 17, 1939, the

Ukrainian Front, under Filipp Golikov, crossed the border just east of Lwów and started a quick march towards the city. The Soviet invasion made all plans to defend the Romanian Bridgehead
obsolete, and the Polish commander decided to withdraw all of his units to the close perimeter and to defend only the city itself, instead of the whole area, which strengthened the Polish defences. On September 18, the Luftwaffe dropped thousands of leaflets over the city to urge the Poles to surrender but was ignored. A general assault was started on the city, which was once again repulsed.

The intervention of the Red Army on 17 September also made necessary some changes in the Germans' plan of operations.

In the early morning of September 19, the first Soviet armoured units reached the eastern outskirts of the city and the suburb of Łyczaków. After a short fight, the Soviet units were pushed back. However, the Soviet forces completed the encirclement of the city overnight and linked with the German army besieging Lwów from the west.

The Polish defences were composed mainly of field fortifications and barricades constructed by the local residents under supervision of military engineers. Sikorski ordered organised defence of the outer city rim, with in-depth defences prepared. In the morning of September 19, the first Soviet envoys arrived and began negotiations with the Polish officers. Colonel Ivanov, the commander of a tank brigade, told Colonel Bronisław Rakowski that the Red Army entered Poland to help it fight the Germans and that the top priority for his units was to enter the city.

The same day, Schörner sent his envoy and demanded the city be surrendered to his troops. When the Polish envoy replied that he had no intention of signing such a document, he was informed that a general assault was ordered for September 21 and that the city would most surely be taken. Hitler's evacuation order from September 20 instructed Gerd von Rundstedt to leave the capture of Lwow to the Soviets. The attack planned by XVIII Corps for 21 September was cancelled, and the German corps prepared to move to the west of the Vistula-San River line. The following day, Sikorski decided that the situation of his forces was hopeless. The reserves, human resources and materiel were plentiful, but further defence of the city would be fruitless and result only in more civilian casualties. He decided to start surrender talks with the Red Army.

Surrender

Polish and German representatives discuss terms of surrender.

On September 22, 1939, the act of surrender was signed in the suburb of

Katyn Massacre in 1940.[3]
: 84 

Order of battle

The Polish defences lacked organisation and consisted only of token forces. Sikorski had approximately 11 infantry battalions, 5 batteries of artillery (mainly 75 mm guns), cavalry unit, engineering platoon and a small number of soldiers who had retreated into the city. On 18 September, two armoured trains (No.53 and No.55, with two 100 mm howitzers and four 75 mm guns in total) broke into the city from Kovel and took part in further actions.[7]

The German units consisted of an entire 1st Mountain Division.

Polish

Polish Army
Division or Brigade Regiments
Southern Front
Sosnkowski 		35th Infantry Division
Szafran 		205th Infantry Regiment
206th Infantry Regiment
207th Infantry Regiment
10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade
Maczek 		10th Mounted Rifle Regiment
24th Uhlans Regiment
11th Infantry Division
Prugar-Ketling 		48th Rifle Regiment
49th Rifle Regiment
53rd Rifle Regiment
24th Infantry Division
Schwarzenberg-Czerny 		17th Infantry Regiment
38th Infantry Regiment
39th Infantry Regiment
38th Infantry Division
Wir-Konas 		96th Infantry Regiment
97th Infantry Regiment
98th Infantry Regiment

German

Wehrmacht
Corps Division or Brigade Regiments
14th Army
List 		XVIII Corps
Eugen Beyer 		1st Mountain Division
Ludwig Kübler 		98th Jäger Regiment
99th Jäger Regiment
100th Jäger Regiment
2nd Mountain Division
Valentin Feurstein 		136th Jäger Regiment
137th Jäger Regiment
130rd Jäger Regiment
XVII Corps
Werner Kienitz 		7th Infantry Division
Eugen Ott 		19th Infantry Regiment
61st Infantry Regiment
62nd Infantry Regiment

Soviet

Soviet Army
Corps Division or Brigade Regiments or Battalions
6th Army
Golikov 		2nd Cavalry Corps
Kostenko 		3rd Cavalry Division
Kotovsky 		34th Cavalry Regiment
60th Cavalry Regiment
99th Cavalry Regiment
158th Cavalry Regiment
44th Tank Regiment
5th Cavalry Division
Blinov 		11th Cavalry Regiment
96th Cavalry Regiment
131 Cavalry Regiment
160th Cavalry Regiment
32nd Tank Regiment
24th Light Tank Brigade
Fotchenkov 		101st Independent Tank Battalion
102nd Independent Tank Battalion
106th Independent Tank Battalion
117th Independent Tank Battalion
17th Rifle Corps
Kolganov 		10th Tank Brigade
Ivanov 		51st Independent Tank Battalion
54th Independent Tank Battalion
57th Independent Tank Battalion
62nd Independent Tank Battalion

Eyewitness account

From Lemberg to Bordeaux (Von Lemberg bis Bordeaux), written by Leo Leixner, a journalist and war correspondent, is a firsthand account of the battles that led to the fall of Poland, the Low Countries and France It includes an eyewitness description of the Battle of Lwów. In August 1939, Leixner had joined the Wehrmacht as a war reporter and was later promoted to sergeant, and in 1941, he published his recollections. The book was originally issued by Franz Eher Nachfolger, the central publishing house of the Nazi Party.[8]

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Siege of Lviv (1939).
Inline
  1. ISBN 83-86678-71-2
    .
  2. ^ a b c Artur Leinwand (1991). "Obrona Lwowa we wrześniu 1939 roku" (in Polish). Instytut Lwowski., see also general reference No. 2
  3. ^
    ISBN 9781841764085
  4. ISBN 83-03-03356-5. Archived from the original
    on 2008-01-05.; ISBN refers to the 1990 reprint of the original publication
  5. ISBN 83-11-07627-8
  6. ISBN 83-11-09619-8
    .
  7. ISBN 978-83-11-10031-2
    , p.267-268 (in Polish)
  8. ^ "LC Online Catalog - Item Information (Full Record)". catalog.loc.gov.
General
  • various authors; Komisja Historyczna Polskiego Sztabu Głównego w Londynie (1986). Polskie siły zbrojne w drugiej wojnie światowej; Vol. 1 parts III and IV (in Polish). London: Instytut Polski i Muzeum im. Gen. Sikorskiego. p. 606.
  • collection of documents (1997). Artur Leinwand (ed.). Dokumenty obrony Lwowa 1939 (in Polish). Warsaw: Instytut Lwowski. p. 281.
    ISBN 83-910659-0-1
    .
Further reading

49°50′33″N 24°01′56″E / 49.84250°N 24.03222°E / 49.84250; 24.03222

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